Method and apparatus for thermal sensing in an electrically commutated motor

ABSTRACT

A control circuit for a motor includes a voltage regulator having a thermal shutdown apparatus that turns off the voltage regulator while retaining power to a micro-controller preventing an automatic restart of the motor absent a recycling of power when the temperature of the control circuit rises above a pre-determined threshold level, wherein the voltage regulator is used to provide power to a plurality of insulated gate bipolar transistors controlling a plurality of stator windings of the motor. Thus the voltage regulator prevents the control circuit and the various components on the control circuit from being damaged from overheating. An embodiment of the control circuit is adapted to generate an error code in response to the shutdown of the voltage regulator and to monitor the operation of the motor to ensure that the motor has been turned off and then on before turning on the power supply to a plurality of phase windings.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/970,207 filed on Oct. 21, 2004 titled “Methodand Apparatus for Preventing Overheating in an Electronically CommutatedMotor Assembly,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent relates generally to electric motors and more particularlyto method and apparatus for thermal sensing in an electricallycommutated motor.

BACKGROUND

A switched reluctance motor is an electrical motor that includes a rotorand a stator. Torque in a reluctance motor is produced by the tendencyof the rotor to move to a position relative to the stator in which thereluctance of a magnetic circuit is minimized, i.e. a position in whichthe inductance of an energized stator winding is maximized. In aswitched reluctance motor, circuitry is provided for detecting theangular position of the rotor and sequentially energizing phases of thestator windings as a function of rotor position.

Switched reluctance motors are doubly salient motors having poles onboth the stator and the rotor, with windings only on the stator poles.The rotor of a switched reluctance motor does not include commutators,permanent magnets, or windings. Switched reluctance motors have avariety of uses, including vacuum cleaners, for example.

Torque may be produced by energizing or applying current to the statorwindings of the stator poles associated with a particular phase in apredetermined sequence. The energization of the stator windings istypically synchronized with the rotational position of the rotor. Amagnetic force of attraction results between the poles of the rotor andthe energized stator poles associated with a particular phase, therebycausing the rotor poles to move into alignment with the energized statorpoles.

In typical operation, each time a stator winding of the switchedreluctance motor is energized, magnetic flux flows from the energizedstator poles associated with a particular phase, across an air gaplocated between the stator poles and the rotor poles. Magnetic fluxgenerated across the air gap between the rotor poles and the statorpoles produces a magnetic field in the air gap that causes the rotorpoles to move into alignment with the energized stator poles associatedwith a particular phase, thereby producing torque. The amount ofmagnetic flux and, therefore, the amount of torque generated by theswitched reluctance motor is dependent upon many variables such as, forexample, the magnetic properties of the material of the rotor poles andthe stator poles, and the length of the air gap between the rotor polesand the stator poles.

The magnetic flux generated can be divided into a main torque-producingflux and leakage flux. The main flux is the flux that flows through therotor poles and the excited stator poles. This main flux produces atorque on the rotor that will tend to align the rotor poles throughwhich the flux passes with the excited stator poles. Leakage flux isundesirable in switched reluctance motors because it directly reducestorque production. More specifically, leakage flux causes the motor toproduce a torque in a direction that is opposite to the direction ofrotation of the rotor, also known as a braking torque. It is known thatmodifications to the rotor pole face may affect torque production in theswitched reluctance motor.

Control circuits for switched reluctance motors are generally located inclose proximity to various mechanical components of the motors, oftenclose to the rotors, stators, etc. The functioning of the switchedreluctance motors produce substantial amounts of heat, which can raisethe temperature of various components surrounding the rotor and statorto substantially high levels. As it is well known, control circuits forswitched reluctance motors almost invariably use various electroniccomponents such as integrated circuits, transistors, etc., that arehighly sensitive to temperature. Generally, electronic components aredesigned to function properly only within a specified operatingtemperature range and if their operating temperature increases ordecreases beyond such specified operating range, the electroniccomponents may malfunction and/or be permanently damaged.

Various methods of cooling are employed to reduce the temperaturesurrounding the mechanical components of switched reluctance motors,including fan, water cooling, etc. While employing such cooling methodsmay reduce risk of damage to the control circuits placed in closeproximity to switched reluctance motors, there is still a possibilitythat in certain conditions, the excessive heat generated by the switchedreluctance motor will damage at least some of the components of suchcontrol circuit. Therefore, it is necessary to employ a technique toavoid damage to the switched reluctance motor control circuits fromexcessive heat generated by the switched reluctance motor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present patent is illustrated by way of examples and not limitationsin the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similarelements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a switched reluctance motor, including astator and a rotor;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the motor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a stator core of the motor shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of a plurality of bobbins associatedwith the stator of the motor shown in FIG. 1, including a plurality ofwire retainers located at an upper portion of each of the plurality ofbobbins;

FIG. 5 is a top view of an upper housing unit of the motor, including asecond plurality of mounting elements for receiving an upper portion ofeach of the plurality of bobbins of the stator;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the second plurality ofmounting elements shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the stator and the upperhousing unit before assembly;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the stator mounted to the upper housingunit after assembly;

FIG. 9 is a view of the rotor of the motor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the rotor of the motor shown inFIG. 1 disposed within an inner region of the stator core;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged partial view of a pole of a prior art rotorapproaching a stator pole;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged partial view of a rotor pole of the motor shownin FIG. 1 approaching a stator pole;

FIGS. 13A-13B are partial views of a rotor pole of the motor shown inFIG. 1 as the it approaches the stator pole in a clockwise direction;

FIG. 14 is a top view of a lower housing unit of the motor shown in FIG.1, including a first plurality of mounting elements for receiving alower portion of each of the plurality of bobbins of the stator inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a top perspective view of the stator of the motor shown inFIG. 1 mounted to the lower housing unit;

FIG. 16 is a top view of the stator and the rotor of the motor shown inFIG. 1 mounted to the lower housing unit;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an insulating member, including a firstplurality of mounting elements for receiving a lower portion of each ofthe plurality of bobbins of the stator in accordance with anotherembodiment;

FIG. 18 is a top view of the insulating member shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a bottom view of the insulating member shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 20 is side view of the insulating member shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of one of the plurality of bobbins of themotor shown in FIG. 1 disposed within the one of the first plurality ofmounting elements of the insulating member shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 22 illustrates a block diagram of a control circuit for theswitched reluctance motor;

FIG. 23 illustrates a circuit diagram of the control circuitcorresponding to the block diagram of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 illustrates a circuit diagram of an optical sensor assembly usedin the control circuit of FIG. 22;

FIG. 25 illustrates a block diagram of a voltage regulator used in thecontrol circuit of FIG. 22; and

FIG. 26 illustrates a flowchart for operating the brushless motor usingthe control circuit of FIG. 22;

FIGS. 27A and 27B illustrate some of the steps used to synchronize theswitching or commutation of the power provided to the stator windings;

FIG. 28 illustrates a start-up wave form in a slow mode for the first1.5 rotor revolutions for the switched reluctance motor;

FIG. 29 also illustrates a number of wave forms in the slow moderoutine;

FIGS. 30 and 31 illustrate wave forms in the fast mode routine;

FIG. 32 illustrates some of the steps used to ensure the legitimacy of asignal received from a rotor position sensor in the switched reluctancemotor; and

FIG. 33 illustrates three wave forms received from the rotor positionsensor in the switched reluctance motor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLES

Referring to FIGS. 1-2, a switched reluctance motor 10 may beconstructed as a package or unit of subassemblies, each of which may beseparately preassembled and combined together during a manufacturingprocess. Specifically, the motor 10 may include an upper housing unit12, a lower housing unit 13, a stator 14, a rotor 16, a drive assembly18, a first end cap 20, and a second end cap 22. Both the upper housingunit 12 and the lower housing unit 13 may be annular in shape, with thefirst end cap 20 being coupled to the upper housing unit 12, and thesecond end cap 22 being coupled to the lower housing unit 13. As shownin FIGS. 1-2, each of the upper housing unit 12, the lower housing unit13, the stator 14, the rotor 16, the drive assembly 18, the first endcap 20, and the second end cap 22 may be combined into a single packageor unit.

The upper housing unit 12 may include a plurality of apertures 24 forreceiving a plurality of fasteners 26 to secure the upper housing unit12 to the stator 14 during assembly. It should be understood, however,that the upper housing unit 12 may be secured to the stator 14 in anyother suitable manner such as, for example, by a clamp, a mountingbracket/flange, or the like.

Referring to FIG. 3, the stator 14 may be constructed in a square-typeconfiguration, with slanting or chamfered portions 27 at the fourcorners of the stator 14. It should be understood, however, that thestator 14 may have other configurations as well such as, for example, acircular configuration, an oval configuration, a rectangularconfiguration, or the like.

The stator 14 includes a stator core 28, a plurality of equally spacedstator poles 30, and stator windings 32 (FIGS. 7-8 and 10) disposed onthe stator core 28. The stator core 28 includes an inner surface thatdefines a central bore 34. The stator core 28 may be stamped or formedfrom a plurality of laminated sheets, or laminations, of ferromagneticmaterial such as, for example, steel. Laminated sheets may be used inthe stator core 28 to control eddy currents and, thereby avoidoverheating of the stator core 28. The stator laminations may belaminated together in a conventional manner and arranged in aback-to-back configuration.

As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of equally spaced stator poles 30 isarranged in a circumferential path about the stator core 28. It shouldbe understood that the stator poles 30 and the stator core 28 may beformed as one, integral piece. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3,the stator 14 includes four circumferentially spaced-apart stator poles30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d projecting inwardly from the stator core 28toward the central bore 34. The stator poles 30 a-d may cooperate todefine inwardly opening slots 36, each of which receives coils of wireduring a stator winding operation. Each of the stator poles 30 a-dincludes a stator pole face 38 at the end projecting into the centralbore 34. The stator pole face 38 may be generally convex in shape.

The stator windings 32 are conventional and may be, for example,polyester-coated wires or magnetic wires prewound into coils and placedon a bobbin 39 (FIG. 4).

Referring to FIG. 4, the bobbin 39, which may be disposed on each of thestator poles 30, may include a front plate 40 a and a back plate 40 bthat is spaced apart from the front plate 40 a. The front plate 40 a andthe back plate 40 b may be connected together by a connecting member 41to define an opening 42 that extends through the bobbin 39. During astator winding operation, stator windings 32 may be wound around theconnecting member 41 located between the front plate 40 a and the backplate 40 b of each of the plurality of bobbins 39. The bobbin 39 acts asan insulation barrier between the stator windings 32 and the stator core28. Each of the prewound bobbins 39, which may include approximately 95turns of wire per stator pole 30, may then be placed over individualstator poles 30 such that each of the stator poles 30 extends throughthe opening 42 of the bobbin 39 with the stator pole face 38 being flushwith an exterior side 43 of the front plate 40 a. As a result, the sidesof the front plate 40 a and the back plate 40 b of each of the pluralityof prewound bobbins 39 may extend radially and outwardly into the slots36 of the stator 14.

Each of the plurality of bobbins 39 may further include wire retainers44 located at an upper portion of the back plate 40 b of each of theplurality of bobbins 39. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the wire retainers44 may include a prong structure 45 located at opposite sides of theupper portion of the back plate 40 b of each of the plurality of bobbins39. Each of the prong structures 45 may include a groove 46 forreceiving an end 48 of the stator winding 32 disposed on each of theplurality of bobbins 39 during a stator winding operation.

Each of the prong structures 45 may further include an outer portion 50and an inner portion 52 that is disposed within the outer portion 50.The outer portion 50 may be composed of a nonconductive material suchas, for example, plastic. The inner portion 52, which may include thegroove 46, may be composed of a conductive material such as, forexample, metal. The conductive material of the inner portion 52 servesto provide an electrical connection between the conductive inner portion52 and the end 48 of the stator winding 38 disposed on each of theplurality of bobbins 39.

Referring to FIGS. 5-8, the upper housing unit 12 of the motor 10 isshown. The upper housing unit 12 includes a plurality of upper mountingelements 54 disposed in an inner region 55 of the upper housing unit 12.Each of the plurality of upper mounting elements 54 engages an upperportion of a bobbin 39 disposed on a stator pole 30 during assembly. Theplurality of upper mounting elements 54 act to secure the upper portionof each of the plurality of bobbins 39 against displacement during motoroperation. As shown in FIG. 5, wire leads 56 a-d are disposed in each ofthe plurality of upper mounting elements 54 and electrically connectedtogether via connection terminals 57. More specifically, wire leads 56 aare connected to wire leads 56 c via connection terminals 57. Likewisewire leads 56 b are connected to wire leads 56 d via connectionterminals 57. As will be discussed in greater detail below, the wireleads 56 a-d are connected together in this manner so that when thestator 14 is mounted to the upper housing unit 12 during assembly, thestator windings 32 disposed on the stator poles 30 a are electricallyconnected in parallel with the stator windings 32 disposed on the statorpoles 30 c. Likewise, when the stator 14 is mounted to the upper housingunit 12 during assembly, the stator windings 32 disposed on the statorpoles 30 b are electrically connected in parallel with the statorwindings 32 disposed on the stator poles 30 d.

Referring to FIG. 6, an enlarged perspective view of one of theplurality of upper mounting elements 54 is shown. As shown in FIG. 6,each of the wire leads 56 of FIG. 5 is disposed within a conductor anvil58 of the upper mounting element 54 and securely held in place.Conductor anvils 58 are well known in the art and are, therefore, notdiscussed further herein.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the stator 14 and the upperhousing unit 12 before assembly. As shown in FIG. 7, the plurality ofwire retainers 44 associated with the bobbins 39 disposed on the statorpoles 30 engage with the plurality of upper mounting elements 54 whenthe stator 14 is mounted to the upper housing unit 12 during assembly.More specifically, the prong structures 45 associated with each of thewire retainers 44 associated with the bobbins 39 disposed on each of thestator poles 30 are adapted to matingly engage each of the plurality ofupper mounting elements 54 of the upper housing unit 12 when the upperhousing unit 12 is mounted to the stator 14 during assembly. In thismanner, the prong structures 45 associated with each of the wireretainers 44 of the bobbins 39 engage each of the plurality of uppermounting elements 54 so as to secure the bobbins 39 against displacementduring motor operation, and thereby eliminate or reduce the need foradditional hardware for holding the bobbins 39 in place during motoroperation.

After the upper housing unit 12 is mounted to the stator 14, the wireleads 56 a-d disposed in the plurality of upper mounting elements 54 areelectrically connected to the stator windings 32 disposed on the statorpoles 30 a-d. Because the wire leads 56 a are electrically connected inparallel with the wire leads 56 c, the stator windings 32 disposed onthe stator poles 30 a are electrically connected in parallel with thestator windings 32 disposed on the stator poles 30 c to form one phase.Likewise, because the wire leads 56 b are electrically connected inparallel with the wire leads 56 d, the stator windings 32 disposed onthe stator poles 30 b are electrically connected in parallel with thestator windings 32 disposed on the stator poles 30 d to form anotherphase. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the upper housing unit 12 mountedto the stator 14 after assembly.

Referring to FIGS. 9-10, the rotor 16 may include a rotor core 60 and aplurality of equally spaced laminated rotor poles 62. The rotor core 60is disposed within the central bore 34 and is coupled to a shaft 64(FIGS. 1-2). The shaft 64 is mounted through a bearing 66 for rotationconcentric to the stator 14. The shaft 64 extends through the rotor core60 and is coupled to a slotted disk 71. As will be described in greaterdetail below, when the slotted disk 71 rotates, the angular position ofthe rotor 16 may be determined. The shaft 64 is also coupled to a loadsuch as, for example, a fan of the vacuum cleaner (not shown) or otherdriven device. The rotor core 60 may be stamped or formed from aplurality of laminated sheets, or laminations, of ferromagnetic materialsuch as, for example, steel. The rotor laminations may be laminatedtogether in a conventional manner and arranged in a back-to-backconfiguration.

As shown in FIGS. 9-10, the plurality of rotor poles 62 are arranged ina circumferential path about the rotor core 60. The rotor poles 62 mayproject radially and outwardly from the shaft 64 to facilitate therotation of the rotor 16 within the central bore 34 of the stator 14.

It is known that magnetic flux generated across the air gap between anenergized stator pole 30 and a rotor pole 62 of the motor 10 creates anattractive force between the energized stator pole 30 and the rotor pole62. The amount of attractive force is dependent upon many variables suchas, for example, the magnetic properties of the materials of the statorpole 30 and the rotor pole 62, and the size of the air gap between theenergized stator pole 30 and the rotor pole 62. It is further known thatthe attractive force between the energized stator pole 30 and the rotorpole 62 increases as the magnetic reluctance (i.e., resistance) of themagnetic circuit formed by the energized stator pole 30 and the rotorpole 62 is reduced. In other words, the low permeability propertiesassociated with the air gap of the magnetic circuit replaces the highpermeability properties of the ferromagnetic material associated withthe rotor core 60. Lowering the reluctance of the air gap between theenergized stator pole 30 and the rotor pole 62 by reducing its size may,in turn, increase the flux densities in the air gap such that an angleof optimum torque generation is realized. Additionally, by replacing aportion of the air gap (i.e., a low permeability medium) with steel(i.e., a high permeability medium) and keeping the magnetic fieldstrength the same, the flux density of the air gap between the energizedstator pole 30 and the rotor pole 62 is increased in accordance with thefollowing equation:

B=Hμ  (Eq. 1)

where: B is the magnetic flux density;

H is the magnetic field strength; and

μ is the permeability property.

Increasing flux density of the air gap (i.e., increasing the force)increases the torque of the rotor 16 in accordance with the followingequation:

Torque=Force×Distance from Axis  (Eq. 2)

Referring to FIG. 11, an enlarged partial view of a rotor pole face 72of a prior art rotor 74 is shown as it approaches a stator pole 30 in aclockwise direction. As shown in FIG. 11, the rotor pole face 72 mayinclude a first portion 72 a and a second portion 72 b that is radiallyinwardly stepped or undercut with respect to the first portion 72 a. Thestepped second portion 72 b creates a non-uniform or stepped air gap 76between the rotor pole face 72 of the prior art rotor 74 and acorresponding stator pole face 38 associated with an energized statorpole 30 during rotation of the prior art rotor 74. The stepped orundercut nature of the second portion 72 b of the rotor pole face 72relative to the first portion 72 a facilitates starting of the motor 10in one direction by increasing the torque in a desired direction ofrotation. It should be understood that starting of the motor 10 may befacilitated in the opposite direction by changing the orientation of thestepped or undercut portion. For example, if the first portion 72 a isstepped or undercut relative to the second portion 72 b, the motor 10may be started in the opposite direction.

Referring to FIG. 12, an enlarged partial view of a rotor pole 62 of therotor 16 in accordance with the present disclosure is shown as the rotorpole 62 approaches a stator pole 30 in a clockwise direction. As shownin FIG. 12, the rotor poles 62 may include a rotor pole face 78 thatincludes a first portion 78 a and a second portion 78 b that is radiallyinwardly stepped or undercut with respect to the first portion 78 a. Thestepped or undercut second portion 78 b of the rotor pole face 78creates a non-uniform or stepped air gap 80 between the second portion78 b of the rotor pole face 78 and a corresponding stator pole face 38associated with an energized stator pole 30 during rotation of the rotor16. As a result, the air gap 80 between the stepped or undercut secondportion 78 b of the rotor pole face 78 and the stator pole face 38 islarger than the air gap 80 between the first portion 78 a of the rotorpole face 78 and the stator pole face 38.

Because the rotor 16 tends to rotate toward a position in which the airgap 80 is minimized and, therefore, inductance is maximized, the air gap80 between the second portion 78 b of the rotor pole face 78 and thestator pole face 38 (which is larger than the air gap 80 between thefirst portion 78 a of the rotor pole face 78 and the stator pole face38) ensures that the leading edge of the rotor pole face 78 is alwaysattracted to the energized stator pole 30 during motor operation.

Additionally, the air gap 80 between the second portion 78 b of therotor pole face 78 and the stator pole face 38 (which is larger than theair gap 80 between the first portion 78 a of the rotor pole face 78 andthe stator pole face 38) ensures that the rotor 16 rotates in onedirection only, i.e., the rotor 16 tends to rotate in the direction ofthe stepped or undercut portion. For example, if the stepped or undercutportion is located on the right side of the rotor pole face 78, therotor 16 will tend to rotate to the right or in a clockwise direction.On the other hand, if the stepped or undercut portion is located on theleft side of the rotor pole face 78, the rotor 16 will tend to rotate tothe left or in a counter-clockwise direction.

Each of the rotor pole face 78 and the stator pole face 38 may define anarc, with the rotor pole face 78 being approximately twice as large asthe stator pole face 38.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a protrusion 82may be located at a leading edge of the second portion 78 b of the rotorpole face 78 that is remote from the first portion 78 a of the rotorpole face 78. The protrusion 82 minimizes the air gap 80 at the edge ofthe second portion 78 b of the rotor pole 62 for magnetic flux flow,thereby optimizing torque characteristics of the motor 10. Theprotrusion 82 is composed of the same or a similar material as the restof the rotor 16, and includes a first side 84 and a second side 86. Eachof the first side 84 and the second side 86 of the protrusion 82 taperstoward an end point 88 of the protrusion 82. As shown in FIG. 12, theend point 88 of the protrusion 82 may be tangential with a circumference90 of the first portion 78 a of the rotor pole face 78. Morespecifically, the first side 84 of the protrusion 82 may taper towardthe end point 88 such that the first side 84 is slightly concave.Alternatively, the first side 84 of the protrusion 82 may taper towardthe end point 88 such that the first side 84 is generally linear.

Referring to FIGS. 13A-13B, partial views of a rotor pole 62 of therotor 16 of FIG. 9 are shown in a plurality of angular positionsassociated with one phase cycle. More specifically, FIGS. 13A-13B arepartial views of the rotor pole 62 of the rotor 16 as the rotor pole 62approaches the stator pole 30 in a clockwise direction indicated byarrow 92. For purposes of discussion, a stator pole reference line 93 isshown in FIGS. 13A-13B.

FIG. 13A shows the position of the rotor 16 near the beginning of aphase cycle. As shown in FIG. 13A, the air gap 80 between the protrusion82 located at the edge of the second portion 78 b of the rotor pole face78 and the stator pole face 38 is smaller than the air gap 80 betweenthe rest of the second portion 78 b of the rotor pole face 78 and thestator pole face 38 in this position. As a result, the flux density atthe air gap 80 between the protrusion 82 and the stator pole face 38 ismaximized in this position, thereby causing the rotor 16 to be pulledtoward the energized stator pole 30 in the direction of arrow 92.

Magnetic flux seeks the path of minimum reluctance. Therefore, becausethe rotor pole 62 is composed of a ferromagnetic material that has alower reluctance than air, magnetic flux will more easily flow throughthe rotor pole 62 and the stator pole 30 than through the air gap 80.

FIG. 13B shows the position of the rotor 16 when the rotor 16 has beenrotated in the direction of arrow 92 such that the end point 88 of theprotrusion 82 is aligned with the stator pole reference line 93. Afterthe protrusion 82 passes the stator pole reference line 93, the rotor 16will tend to be pulled in the opposite direction of rotation, i.e., acounter-clockwise direction in this embodiment. However, this pulling inthe opposite direction of rotation is offset by the positive motoringtorque due to the first portion 78 a of the rotor pole face 78.Therefore, the rotor 16 continues to be pulled toward the energizedstator pole 30 in the direction of arrow 92.

Referring to FIG. 14, a top view of the lower housing unit 13 of themotor 10 is shown. As discussed above, the lower housing unit 13 has agenerally annular shape. It should be understood, however, that thelower housing unit 13 may have other shapes such as, for example, arectangular shape, a square shape, or the like. The lower housing unit13 includes a ring structure 87 and a plurality of lower mountingelements 96. The ring structure 87 is located within an inner region 98of the lower housing unit 13. As shown in FIG. 14, the ring structure 87may extend about the circumference of the lower housing unit 13.

Each of the plurality of lower mounting elements 96 engages a bottomportion of a bobbin 39 when the stator 14 is mounted to the lowerhousing unit 13 in accordance with one embodiment. Each of the pluralityof lower mounting elements 96 acts to secure the bottom portion of thebobbins 39 against displacement during motor operation.

FIG. 15 is a top perspective view of the stator 14 mounted to the lowerhousing unit 13. FIG. 16 is a top view of the stator 14, including thebobbins 39 having prewound stator windings 32, mounted to the lowerhousing unit 13. FIG. 16 further shows the rotor 16 disposed within thecentral bore 34 of the stator 14.

Referring to FIGS. 17-21, an alternative embodiment in which theplurality of lower mounting elements 96 is disposed in an insulatingmember 100 is shown. In the embodiment, the insulating member 100 ismounted to the lower housing unit 13. As shown, the insulating member100 includes an annular ring structure 102 having legs 104 extendingfrom a bottom side of the ring structure 102. It should be understood,however, that the ring structure 102 may have other configurations suchas, for example, a square configuration, a rectangular configuration, orthe like. Each of the legs 104 of the ring structure 102 may engagesockets (not shown) associated with the lower housing unit 13 duringassembly. After assembly, each of the lower mounting elements 96 engagesthe bottom portion of a bobbin 39 to secure the bottom portion of thebobbin 39 against displacement during motor operation.

Operation of the Control Circuit

The drive assembly 18 used to drive the motor 10 includes a controlcircuit 500, which is further described below in FIG. 22. Specifically,FIG. 22 illustrates a block diagram of the control circuit 500 used tocontrol the operation of the motor 10, by controlling the power supplyto the stator windings 32. The control circuit 500 includes a rectifiercircuit 502 that converts an AC input power into unregulated DC powerV1, which is fed to the stator windings 32 via a switching device 518,as discussed below. The DC power V1 is also fed to a voltage droppingcircuit 504. The voltage dropping circuit provides unregulated voltageV2 to a voltage regulator circuit 506 and to a micro-controller 512 viaan opto-sensing assembly 508.

The opto-sensing assembly 508 operates in conjunction with a slotteddisk 71, which is rotatable with the rotor 16, to monitor the rotationalspeed of the motor 10. The opto-sensing assembly 508 generates a rotorposition signal that is used by the micro-controller 512 to measure thespeed of the rotor 16. The micro-controller 512 may include one or moreof the commonly known components such as memory, a CPU, a plurality ofregisters, a plurality of timers, etc.

The voltage regulator 506 generates a regulated output voltage V4 thatis input to switching device drivers 514 and 516, which control aswitching device 518. The switching device 518 is used to controlvoltage input to the stator windings 32. The switching device 518 may beimplemented by a number of electronic switching mechanisms, such astransistors, thyristors, etc. An implementation of the switching device518 using insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) is illustrated infurther detail in FIG. 23 below. The switching device 518 receives powerV1 from the rectifier circuit 502 and provide the power to the statorwindings 32 as per the control signals received from the switchingdevice drivers 514 and 516. Functioning of the switching device 518 tocontrol stator windings 32 is well known to those of ordinary skill inthe art. Various components of the control circuit 500 are illustratedin further detail in FIG. 23 below, while the operation of the voltageregulator 506 is explained in further detail in FIG. 25 below.

While the control circuit 500 receives AC input power of 120 V, in analternate implementation, a different level of input power may beselected. The rectifier circuit 502 may be any of the commonly availabletype of rectifier circuit that converts an AC input power into anunregulated DC output power, such as a bridge rectifier.

The voltage dropping circuit 504 is conventional and may be implementedusing a set of dropping resistors, a Zener diode, and a capacitor. Theoutput V2 of the voltage dropping circuit 504 is connected via theopto-sensing circuit 508 to the microcontroller 512, and to the voltageregulator 506. Because the output V2 of the voltage dropping circuit isunregulated, another conventional voltage regulator (not shown) may beused to convert such unregulated voltage V2 into a regulated voltage tobe input into the microcontroller 512. The micro-controller 512 may beimplemented by using any of the various micro-controller integratedcircuits, such as a Z86 type of integrated circuit.

The voltage regulator 506 generates a DC output voltage of 15V that isused to drive the switching device drivers 514 and 516. An output of thevoltage dropping circuit 504 is sourced through the opto-sensingassembly 508. In this manner, the supply current to the opto-sensingassembly 508 is not directly dissipated in the dropping resistors of thevoltage dropping circuit 504. Therefore, the opto-sensing assembly 508also functions as a conductor of the current that is eventually input tothe micro-controller 512.

FIG. 23 illustrates an implementation of the control circuit 500 whereinthe switching device 518 is implemented by IGBTs 562-568. The IGBTs562-568 control the current passing through a first phase 580 and thesecond phase 582 of the stator windings 32. The IGBTs 562 and 564 areconnected to the high voltage end of the first phase 580 and the secondphase 582, respectively, and are known as the high side IGBTs, while theIGBTs 566 and 568 are connected to the low voltage end of the firstphase 580 and the second phase 582, respectively, and are known as thelow side IGBTs. The IGBTs 562-568 receive their control input signalsAHG, ALG, BLG and BHG from the switching device drivers 514 and 516. Inan implementation of the control circuit where the switching device 518are implemented by the IGBTs 562-568, the switching device drivers 514and 516 may be implemented by using one of the many well knownintegrated IGBT driver circuits, such as IR2101S integrated circuit,available from International Rectifiers, Inc.

The first switching device driver 514 generates a high side output AHGand a low side output ALG to drive the first phase 580. Specifically,the high side output AHG is used to drive the high side IGBT 562 and thelow side output ALG is used to drive the low side IGBT 566. The secondswitching device driver 516 generates a high side output BHG and a lowside output BLG to drive the second phase 582. Specifically, the highside output BHG is used to drive the high side IGBT 564 and the low sideoutput BLG is used to drive the low side IGBT 568.

In an implementation of the control circuit, the turning on and off ofthe IGBTs 562-568 is controlled in a manner so as to allow sufficienttime to drain the current generated in the stator windings 32 due tomagnetic collapse of the stator windings 32. For example, for the firstphase 580, instead of turning off the IGBTs 562 and 566 simultaneously,when the IGBT 562 is turned off, the IGBT 566 is kept on for a timeperiod sufficient to allow dumping of the magnetic collapse inducedcurrent of the first phase 580 through the IGBT 566 to ground.Similarly, for the second phase 582, instead of turning off the IGBTs564 and 568 simultaneously, when the IGBT 564 is turned off, the IGBT568 is kept on for a time period sufficient to allow dumping of themagnetic collapse induced current of the second phase 582 through theIGBT 568 to the ground.

Output 526 contains AC ripple, which is preferably filtered before it isapplied to the stator windings 32. Therefore, the first leg of output526 is applied to a DC bus filter network 560, as shown in FIG. 23. Thefilter network 560 includes diodes DS1, DS2, DS3 and capacitors C1A andC1B. The filter network 560 filters out AC ripple from both the positivegoing power and the negative going power return legs of the first leg ofoutput power 526. The resulting filtered voltage output by the filternetwork 560 is 120V DC under load, and it can source about 15 amperes ofcontinuous current.

As shown in FIG. 23, the resulting DC bus voltage output from the filternetwork 560 is applied directly to the collectors of series switchingIGBTs 562 and 564, and to the emitters of series switching IGBTs 566 and568. The IGBTs 562-568 receive their gate inputs from the switchingdevice drivers 514 and 516.

FIG. 24 illustrates a circuit diagram of the opto-sensing assembly 508,which may be implemented by a conventional optical sensor assembly, suchas Honeywell P/N HOA1887-011 from Honeywell, Inc., or Optek P/NOPB830W11 from Optek, Inc. The opto-sensing assembly 508 includes alight emitting diode (LED) 602 and a silicon photo-transistor 604, wherethe LED 602 receives a DC output voltage from the voltage droppingcircuit 504. The LED 602 and the photo-transistor 604 are placed on theopposite sides of the slotted disk 71, which is attached to the rotor16, and therefore rotates at the speed of the rotor 16.

Each time the edge of the slotted disk 71 passes between the LED 602 andthe photo-transistor 604, the signal generated by the photo-transistor604 changes from one level or state to another. The signal output fromthe photo-transistor 604 is input to the micro-controller 512. Themicro-controller 512 calculates the speed and the position of the rotor16 based on the calculated period. Calculation of the speed of the rotor16 using the time period for each rotation of the rotor 16 isconventional and therefore is not further described.

FIG. 25 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the voltage regulator506. In this illustration, the voltage regulator 506 is implementedusing integrated circuit TDA3661 from Phillips® Semiconductor, howeverin an alternate implementation, other similar voltage regulators mayalso be used. The voltage regulator 506 is supplied voltage from theoutput of the voltage dropping circuit 504. The output voltage of thevoltage regulator 506 can be adjusted by means of an external resistordivider comprising the resistors 612 and 614.

Due to the functioning of the motor 10, as well as due to the continuousoperation of the control circuit 500, it is quite possible that thetemperature of the control circuit 500 may rise substantially. To avoidany damage to the control circuit 500 and various components locatedupon it, the control circuit 500 is designed with a thermal shutdownfeature. The voltage regulator 506 includes a thermal protection device616 that measures the temperature of the voltage regulator 506 and shutsdown its output voltage whenever the temperature reaches a thresholdlevel, such as 150° C.

To use the active thermal shutdown feature of the voltage regulator 506,the substrate of the voltage regulator 506 is thermally coupled to theboard of the control circuit 500 using a round copper pin. In thismanner, the substrate of the voltage regulator 506 closely follows thetemperature of the control circuit 500. The IGBTs 562-568 are qualifiedto be operable up to a temperature of 175° C. To prevent overheating,they are placed such that they are cooled by the air circulated by themotor 10. However, if for some reason such as obstruction, housingfailure, etc., the cooling air to the IGBTs 562-568 is lost, thetemperature of the control circuit could rise up to 150° C. In such asituation, the voltage regulator 506 will turn off due to its thermalprotection device 616. Upon thermal shutdown of the voltage regulator506, the power to the IGBT drivers 514 and 516, and therefore the powerto the stator windings 32 is also shutdown. However, as described below,the power to the micro-controller 512 remains on.

The restart of the motor 10, in the event of such a thermal shutdown, isfurther explained by the flowchart 650 of FIG. 26. Blocks 652 and 654illustrate constant monitoring of the temperature of the substrate ofthe voltage regulator 506 by the thermal protection device 616. As longas the temperature of the threshold is below a threshold level, thethermal protection device 616 continuously monitor such temperature.

When it is detected that the temperature of the substrate of the voltageregulator 506 is at or above the threshold level, the thermal protectiondevice 616 shuts down the voltage regulator 506, and therefore, themotor 10. Conventionally, if the power switch of the motor 10 is lefton, the motor 10 could re-start unexpectedly once the thermal protectiondevice 616 senses that the temperature of the substrate of the voltageregulator 506 is below threshold. However, in the present system,because the micro-controller 512 was never shut down, themicro-controller 512 will not be in a proper start-up mode to permitsuch unexpected re-start of the motor 10.

In order to prevent such unexpected restart of the motor 10, themicro-controller 512 continuously monitors the speed of the motor 10,and if the micro-controller 512 detects an unexpected drop in the speedof the motor 10, indicating a thermal shutdown, at a block 658 themicro-controller 512 generates a shut-down error routine. Subsequently,at a block 660, the micro-controller 512 stops providing output signalsto the switching device drivers. At a block 662, the micro-controller512 generates a troubleshooting error code that can be used later by themanufacturer or the operator of the motor 10 for diagnostic purposes.Subsequently, as shown by the block 664, the micro-controller 512 willnot restart until the entire operation of the motor 10 is recycled, thatis, the on/off switch of the motor 10 has been turned off and then on.Once the recycling of the motor 10 is detected, at a block 666 themicro-controller 512 resumes the operation of the motor 10 in a normalstart mode, which is described in further detail below.

Operation of the Motor Code

Conventional switched reluctance motors utilizing a micro-controller tocontrol the commutation of power provided to the stator windings performthe same start-up routine whenever power to the circuit is turned on.However, if the power to the motor is turned off when the rotor isrotating at a high rate of speed and then quickly cycled back on (i.e.,rapid cycling), using the same start-up routine often causes damage tooccur to the electrical components in the motor. Typically, it is theIGBTs in the circuit that are most susceptible of damage if the motor isnot allowed to coast for a period of time until the rotational speedfalls below a threshold speed. A running re-start routine is describedbelow to detect such a rapid cycling of power and to allow the rotor tocoast until the rotation speed falls below a threshold speed in order toprevent damaging the IGBTs.

As previously discussed, switched reluctance motor operation is based ona tendency of a rotor 16 to move to a position where an inductance of anenergized phase of stator winding(s) 32 is maximized. In other words,the rotor 16 will tend to move toward a position where the magneticcircuit is most complete. The rotor 16 has no commutator and no windingsand is simply a stack of electrical steel laminations with a pluralityof opposed pole faces. It is however, necessary to know the rotor's 16position in order to sequentially energize phases of the stator windings32 with switched direct current (DC) to produce rotation and torque.

For proper operation of the motor 10, switching should be correctlysynchronized to the angle of rotation of the rotor 16. The performanceof a switched reluctance motor depends in part, on the accurate timingof phase energization with respect to rotor position. Detection of rotorpositions in the present embodiment is sensed using a rotor positionsensor in the form of the opto-sensing assembly or optical interrupter508.

One manner in which an exemplary system may operate is described belowin connection with FIGS. 27 and 32 which represent a number of portionsor routines of one or more computer programs. The majority of thesoftware utilized to implement the routines is stored in one or more ofthe memories in the controller 512, and maybe written at any high levellanguage such as C, C++, C#, Java or the like, or any low-level assemblyor machine language. By storing the computer program portions therein,those portions of the memories are physically and/or structurallyconfigured in accordance with computer program instructions. Parts ofthe software, however, may be stored and run in a separate memorylocation. As the precise location where the steps are executed can bevaried without departing from the scope of the invention, the followingfigures do not address the machine performing an identified function.

FIGS. 27A and 27B are two parts of a flowchart 700 describing some ofthe steps used to synchronize the switching or commutation of the powerprovided to the stator windings 32. Some, or all, of the steps shown ofthe flowchart 700 may be stored in the memory of the controller 512.

Referring to FIG. 27A, the flowchart 700 may begin when power isprovided to the control circuit (block 702). This begins theinitialization phase, and includes initializing the hardware, firmware,and start timers (block 704). Specifically, the initialization includesa series of inline initialization instructions that are executed everypower on. The initialization may be further broken down into hardwareinitialization, variable initialization, and power on delay.

Upon power on, program execution begins within the controller 512 at aspecific memory location. In essence, the hardware initializationincludes a series of instructions that configure the controller 512 byassigning and configuring I/O, locating the processor stack, configuringthe number of interrupts, and starting a plurality of period timers. Thevariable initialization includes installing sane default values to anumber of variables, one of which is a speed dependant correctionvariable. Additionally, there is a 100 mS power on delay (block 706),which gives a number of power supply capacitors time to charge most ofthe way before the drivers are turned on. This prevents the IGBT drivers514, 516 from dragging down the low voltage power supply during startup. During this time delay, the low side of the IGBT drivers are turnedon to charge the bootstrap capacitors (block 710).

In operation, the controller 512 utilizes three different speedroutines, namely slow mode, transition to fast mode, and fast mode.However, immediately after initialization, the controller 512 willdetermine a rotational speed of the rotor 16 by polling the opto-sensingassembly 508 in order to determine if the running re-start routine isneeded before activating the slow mode (block 712). If it is determinedat the block 714 that the rotor speed is greater than a predeterminedvalue S1, such as for example, 6800 RPM, the routine 700 will jump to arunning re-start mode which is utilized to prevent damage to the IGBTdrivers after a rapid cycling of current provided to the motor 10. Therapid cycling of power to motor 10 is essentially a quick off/on whilethe motor 10 is already spinning. The running re-start routine isutilized to prevent damage to the IGBT drivers 514, 516, as cycling thepower above certain speeds may confuse the slow mode routine (describedbelow) and possibly blow one or more of the IGBTs 514, 516. The runningre-start routine is used after a rapid cycling of power to initiate adelay that allows the rotational speed of the rotor to decrease to apoint where the firing angles, as calculated by the controller 512, arefixed.

From a running re-start routine, if it is determined at the block 714after power on that the speed is greater than 6800 RPM, a retry counteris set (block 716), for example. It should be noted that the retrycounter may alternatively be set upon initialization, or may be set atanother point in the running re-start routine. A predetermined timedelay, such as 500 mS, may then be initiated (block 720). The rotationalspeed of the rotor 16 is than re-sampled (block 722). If it isdetermined at a block 724 that the rotational speed of the rotor 16 isstill greater than the predetermined threshold S1, the routine will thencheck at a block 730 to determine the value of the retry counter.

If it is determined at the block 730 that the retry counter is notgreater than 1, then an error maybe generated (block 732) and the systemmay be shut down. In other words, this would occur when the retrycounter has counted down consecutively from 20 to 1. This would indicatethat a predetermined time period would have passed. If it is determinedat the block 730 that the retry counter is greater than 1, than theretry counter is decremented (block 734) and the routine returns toblock 720 where another delay is initiated.

If it is determined that the block 724 at the rotational speed of therotor 16 was less than the threshold S1, then the routine will jump toactivate a slow mode routine (block 740). In other words, in thedisclosed embodiment, the rotational speed of the rotor 16 continues tobe re-sampled for a predetermined time if the re-sampled rotationalspeed continues to exceed the threshold S1. Those of ordinary skill inthe art will readily appreciate that alternative methods of checking toensure that the rotational speed of the rotor 16 has decreased to a safelevel before jumping to the slow mode routine can be implemented. Forexample, a longer delay may be implemented in which the need to utilizethe retry counter maybe eliminated. A variety of other techniques mayalso be utilized.

When the slow mode routine is activated at the block 740, the controller512 provides Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to which ever phase of statorwindings 32 is ahead of the rotor poles 48 during start up to avoidlarge current spikes as the rotor 16 comes up to speed. The rotorposition is typically known at startup from the state of the signal fromthe encoder/optical sensor 510. Effectively, each current pulse suppliedto the stator windings 32 is chopped into many short (duration) currentpulses until the rotor speed reaches a predetermined speed. At thatpoint, full pulses are applied to the stator windings 32. The opticalsensor transitions are polled, triple debounced, and disabled for aminimum period of time after a previous transition in order to reducethe chances of noise on the output signal. This technique is describedin greater detail with reference to FIG. 32.

In slow mode, the current input is duty cycled to limit the maximum IGBTon time in all cases. Additionally, there are two unique commutationstates that reflect the present state of the optical sensor.

FIG. 28 illustrates a start-up wave form in a slow mode for the first1.5 rotor revolutions. The wave form 802 illustrates a signal receivedfrom the optical sensor 510. The wave form 804 illustrates the high sideof phase ‘A’ and the wave form 806 illustrates the low side of phase‘A’. The wave form 810 illustrates the high side of phase ‘B’ and thewave form 812 illustrates the low side of phase ‘B’. It is furtherillustrated that at the point 814, the power to the motor 10 is switchedon. The predetermined power on delay described at block 706 in FIG. 27Ais shown between times 814 and 818. As seen from the wave forms, at thepoint 814 when the power is switched on, the low side of both phase ‘A’and phase ‘B’ are turned on to charge the bootstrap capacitors. Itshould be noted that only when both the low and the high side of a givenphase are on is full current to the respective stator windings,supplied.

FIG. 29 also illustrates a number of wave forms in the slow moderoutine. Similar to FIG. 28, the wave form 822 illustrates the outputfrom the opto-sensing assembly 508. The wave form 822 illustrates thehigh side of phase ‘A’ and the wave form 826 illustrates the low side ofphase ‘A’. The wave form 830 illustrates the high side of phase ‘B’, andthe wave form 832 illustrates the low side of phase ‘B’. FIG. 29 alsoillustrates that when power to a phase is on, it is actually athirty-six percent duty Pulse Width Modulation signal. The modulating ofboth the high and low sides switches simultaneously is known as hardchopping. Soft chopping is the switching of one of the two sides. Hardchopping is used in the disclosed embodiment to minimize current burstat power up. It can also be seen from FIG. 29 that the period length ofthe wave forms decrease due to acceleration.

Returning to FIG. 27A, after initiating the slow mode routine at block740, the routine will then check to see if an optical transition hasoccurred (block 742). If no optical transition has been recorded, thenan error is generated indicating a problem on start up (block 744). Ifit is determined at block 742 that an optical transition has occurred,the routine may check the rotational speed of the rotor 16 (block 746).If it is determined at a block 748 that the rotational speed of therotor 16 is less than the predetermined threshold S1, the routinereturns to the block 740 to continue executing the slow mode routine.However, if it is determined that the block 748 that the rotationalspeed rotor 16 is greater than the predetermined threshold S1, theroutine as shown on FIG. 27B will move to activate a transition to fastmode routine (block 750).

In the disclosed embodiment, the predetermined speed threshold S1 isapproximately 7000 RPM. The transition to fast routine provides a speedtransition from slow to fast by maintaining an identical phase on timeas that of the slow mode, but switching in a way that includespre-triggering of the phases. Acceleration continues due to thepre-triggering, but is tempered by the fixed on time, which isapproximately 800 uS in the disclosed embodiment. The off time isvariable depending on the speed. Because the rotor 16 is alreadyaccelerating due to the pre-triggering, the off time becomes shorter andshorter producing a higher duty cycle, which in turn increases theacceleration. The end result is a controlled runaway condition thatmodestly accelerates while minimizing, if not eliminating, currentspikes and torque spikes.

After the transition to fast mode at block 750, the routine may thencheck the rotational speed of the rotor 16 (block 752). If it isdetermined at a block 754 that the rotational speed rotor 16 is lessthan a second predetermined speed threshold S2, the routine will returnto the block 750 where the transition to fast mode routine continues. Ifit is determined at the block 754 that the rotational speed of the rotor16 is greater than the predetermined speed threshold S2, the routinewill activate the fast mode routine (block 760).

Wave forms illustrating the fast mode routine are shown in FIGS. 30 and31. The fast mode routine is categorized by a pre-trigger algorithm toobtain maximum rotational speed. Pre-trigger values may be empiricallyderived to provide maximum RPM for a given maximum target current, suchas 13.8 Amps at 120 VAC input, under various load and speed conditions.The pre-trigger algorithm in the fast mode may include a look up tablethat incorporates a correction for a three degree optical sensor diskadvance that helps with start up.

The fundamental difference between the fast mode routine and thetransition to fast mode is that the transition to fast mode limits thephase on time, which in the disclosed embodiment is approximately 800uS. Whereas, in the fast mode, the phase on time is left on the entirecycle which may be up to approximately 830 uS. The switch to 100 percentduty causes a further acceleration surge which unchecked, may tend torunaway. There are however, two significant stabilizing influences.First, at high speeds it is difficult to pump and remove current throughthe stator windings 32, thereby limiting the transfer of power to therotor 16. The winding charge time starts to become a significantfraction of the cycle. Second, the load increases with the cube of therotor speed. This has a dramatic effect of tempering an otherwiserunaway condition. Consequently, there is only a minor speed bump orsurge when the fast mode is activated.

FIG. 30 illustrates wave forms corresponding to the pre-triggerdiscussed above. The wave form 840 illustrates the signal received fromthe opto-sensing assembly 508. The wave form 842 illustrates phase ‘A’and form 844 illustrates phase ‘B’. As further illustrated in FIG. 30,the interrupt 846 occurs on the falling edge of the optical sensor andlasts for approximately 200 to 300 uS. The time represented by 850 inFIG. 30 may be derived by a speed dependent look-up table (SDT) plus apre-trigger value. This time period 850 also represents what may bereferred to as a phase timing advance. The SDT optimizes the torqueacross the full range of load conditions within an application.

FIG. 31 illustrates a detailed look at the high side and the low sideswitch events within the fast mode. Similar to FIG. 29, the wave form860 illustrates the signal received from the opto-sensing assembly 508.The wave form 862 illustrates the high side of phase ‘A’ and wave form864 illustrates the low side of phase ‘A’. The wave form 866 illustratesthe high side of phase ‘B’ and wave form 870 illustrates the low side ofphase ‘B’. As in FIG. 30, time 850 represents the phase timing advance.Also illustrated in FIG. 31 is a time period 852 in which the low sideswitch is held on for the extra time to facilitate dumping from thestator winding the current generated by the magnetic collapse of thestator winding when the current is turned off. In the exemplaryembodiment, the time period 852 is approximately 41 uS. As illustratedin FIG. 31, the low side's switch is held on for the extra time period852 in both phase ‘A’ as well as phase ‘B’.

In the context of microcontroller design, an interrupt is anasynchronous event that causes an immediate transfer of user programflow from its current execution loop to an interrupt service routine(ISR). The purpose of interrupts is to provide a quick, deterministicresponse to an external event without the need for constant polling inthe main foreground program routine. An ISR is just like a normalsubroutine of processing instructions with one exception. That is,because the ISR may be called or invoked at almost any time, independentof the current foreground execution loop, special care should be take toensure it does not adversely affect the main program.

Period timers may be used in conjunction with an interrupt routine uponreceipt of a falling edge of a signal from the opto-sensing assembly 508as illustrated in FIG. 31. In the disclosed embodiment, the periodtimers are 8 bit countdown timers which counts down from 0 (256) to 1and automatically reload. The resolution of the timers correspond to thecrystal within the central processing unit 582 which is approximately a10 MHz crystal. One of the period timers may be designated timer 1 (T1)which is an 8 bit countdown timer which counts down from % FF (255) to 1and stops. T1 is initialized with a divide by 64 prescaler. Thus, itsresolution is 51.2 uS. Table 1 illustrates the portion of the values forthe period timers.

TABLE 1 uS @ 8 MHZ T1 T0 time (uS) REF FF 00 0 FF FF 0.8 1 FF FE 1.6 2 .. . FF C1 50.4 63 FE C0 51.2 64 FE BF 52 65 . . . FC 01 204 255 FB 00204.8 256 FB FF 205.6 257 . . .

It should also be noted that the period timers count downward, not up.Additionally, the upper two bits of T0 contain redundant information.The two 8 bit values are merged or overlapped to produce a true 14 bitperiod. In order to calculate the period, it should be understood that“00” in T0 is equivalent to 256 and not 0. Thus, the maximum count isapproximately 13,107 uS. There are a few microseconds that the timersare not running, and this time should be accounted for when calculatingthe period.

It is a common problem in control circuits for switched reluctancemotors that noise is introduced into the electronic components. Oneplace that noise is a particular problem is in the opto-sensing assembly508. Noise is particularly undesirable here because it could beresponsible for incorrectly triggering a commutation of power suppliedto a phase winding. Because the noise is difficult to eliminate, it isnecessary to ensure the accuracy and legitimacy of transition signalsreceived from the opto-sensing assembly 508.

FIG. 32 illustrates a flowchart 900 describing some of the steps used toensure the legitimacy of a signal received from the rotor positionsensor 510 in the motor 10. Some of the steps shown in the flowchart 900may be stored in the memory 584 of the controller 512. The routine 900may be used in any of the speed modes described above.

Referring to FIG. 32, after initializing the controller 512 and anyother components within the commutation circuit, routine 900 mayactivate any one of the slow mode, transition to fast mode or fast modes(block 901). Routine 900 may then poll the rotor position sensor (block902) in order to determinate a first state of the rotor position sensor.If it is determined at the block 904 that the state of the rotorposition sensor 510 is true (i.e., light/clear) then a time delay may beinitiated (block 906). The time delay may be achieved by retrieving oneor more time constants from the memory 584. The one or more timeconstants each represent a different number of units, and each unitrepresents a predetermined time value. In the disclosed embodiment eachtime unit is approximately 25 uS. The time constants TD1-TD7 areillustrated in Table 2.

TABLE 2 TD1 is 20 units TD2 is 32 units TD3 is 28 units TD4 is 1 unitTD5 is 26 units TD6 is 32 units TD7 is 29 units

Referring again to FIG. 32, after the delay initiated at the block 906,the routine 900 polls the rotor position sensor or opto-sensing assembly508 (block 910). If it is determined at the block 912 that the rotorposition sensor 508 is false, the routine will return back to the speedroutine that is currently operating at block 901. If it is determined atthe block 912 that the state of the rotor position 512 was true, anotherdelay may be initiated (block 914). Thereafter, the routine may poll therotor position sensor 508 (block 916). If it is determined at the block920 that the third state of the rotor position sensor is false, theroutine returns to the block 900 and to the active speed routine.

If however, it is determined at the block 920 that the third state ofthe rotor position sensor 920 is true, then the routine will considerthe true state of the rotor position sensor as a legitimate true signal(block 922). The routine will then cause phase ‘A’ to be on and phase‘B’ to be off (block 924). Thereafter, the active speed routine willcontinue and may check the rotational speed of the rotor 16 (block 926).It should also be noted that all optical changes that occur during thetime TD1+TD2+TD3 after a previously debounced transition is recognizedare ignored. This gives the optical sensor 508 time to fully changestates before another transition is recognized. And all transitions thatare ultimately recognized are triple debounced. A consequence of thisaggressive debouncing algorithm limits the power on re-start speed,which is corrected by the previously discussed running re-startalgorithm.

If it is determined at the block 904 that the first state of the rotorposition sensor is false, a delay may be initiated (block 930) beforethe optical sensor is re-polled (block 932). If it is determined at ablock 934 that the state of the rotor position sensor after the firstdelay is true, the flowchart 900 will return to which ever speed routineis active at block 901. If it is determined at the block 934 that thestate of the rotor position sensor is false, the routine will initiate asecond delay (block 936). The rotor position sensor 508 is then polledfor a third time (block 940). If it is determined that the third stateof the rotor position sensor is true, the routine will return to theactive speed routine at block 901.

If however, it is determined that third state of the rotor positionsensor is false, the routine will consider the false state of the rotorposition sensor as a legitimate false signal (block 944). Phase ‘A’ ofthe stator windings 32 will then be turned off, and phase ‘B’ of thestator windings 32 will be turned on (block 946). The active speedroutine will then proceed and may check the rotational speed of therotor 16 (block 926).

FIG. 33 illustrates three wave forms received from the rotor positionsensor 508. Wave form 950 illustrates spurious electrical noise spikeson the opto circuit. Wave form 952 illustrates the phase signal of phase‘A’ and phase ‘B’ without the debounce routine. Wave form 954illustrates the phase signal of phase ‘A’ and phase ‘B’ with thedebounce routine.

As illustrated in the wave form 950, the controller 512 records a numberof noise peaks 956. In wave form 952, a number of undesired triggeringsof the phases is illustrated at 958. This occurs because a debounceroutine was not activated or was not utilized in association with thisphase signal. In contrast, wave form 954 illustrates a clean phasesignal which has not been impacted by the noise on the opto circuit fromwave from of 950 as a result of the debounce routine as described inFIG. 32.

The debounce routine 900 shown in FIG. 32 helps to ensure that anysensory events do not include any spurious electrical noise spikes thathave been imposed upon the sensor circuitry. A noise spike is typicallymuch shorter in length than a full period of three sensor reads, thuseliminating noise being read on more than just one read event. As theflowchart 900 illustrates, three consecutive TRUE reads or three FALSEreads must be sensed before the controller 512 considers the readsstatus legitimate.

Although the forgoing text sets forth a detailed description of numerousdifferent embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that thescope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construedas exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment of theinvention because describing every possible embodiment would beimpractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternative embodiments couldbe implemented, using either current technology or technology developedafter the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within thescope of the claims defining the invention.

Thus, many modifications and variations may be made in the techniquesand structures described and illustrated herein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it should beunderstood that the methods and apparatus described herein areillustrative only and are not limiting upon the scope of the invention.

1. A method of operating a motor apparatus, the motor apparatus having acontrol circuit, a micro-controller, a rotor and a stator having astator winding, the control circuit having a voltage regulator supplyingpower to the stator winding via a switching device, the methodcomprising: measuring a temperature of the motor apparatus; comparingthe measured temperature with a threshold temperature; turning off thevoltage regulator if the measured temperature exceeds the thresholdtemperature while retaining power to the micro-controller.
 2. A methodof claim 1, wherein measuring the temperature of the motor apparatuscomprises measuring a temperature of the control circuit.
 3. A method ofclaim 2, wherein measuring the temperature of the control circuitcomprises measuring a temperature of the voltage regulator.
 4. A methodof claim 1, wherein the threshold is approximately one hundred and fiftydegrees Celsius.
 5. A method of claim 1, further comprising preventing arestart of the motor absent a recycling of power to the motor.
 6. Amethod of claim 5, further comprising turning a switch to the offposition and then back on again to recycle power to the motor.
 7. Amethod of claim 1, wherein a substrate of the voltage regulator isthermally coupled to the control circuit.
 8. A method of operating amotor apparatus, the motor apparatus having a control circuit, amicro-controller, a rotor and a stator having a stator winding, thecontrol circuit having a voltage regulator supplying power to the statorwinding via a switching device, the method comprising: measuring atemperature of the motor apparatus; comparing the measured temperaturewith a threshold temperature; turning off the voltage regulator if themeasured temperature exceeds the threshold temperature while retainingpower to the micro-controller preventing a restart of the motor if thetemperature falls back below the threshold.
 9. A method of claim 8,wherein measuring the temperature of the motor apparatus comprisesmeasuring a temperature of the control circuit.
 10. A method of claim 9,wherein measuring the temperature of the control circuit comprisesmeasuring a temperature of the voltage regulator.
 11. A method of claim8, wherein the threshold is approximately one hundred and fifty degreesCelsius.
 12. A method of claim 8, further comprising turning a switch tothe off position and then back on again to recycle power to the motor.13. A method of claim 8, wherein a substrate of the voltage regulator isthermally coupled to a board of the control circuit.
 14. A controlcircuit for operating a motor having a rotor and a stator, the statorhaving a stator winding, the control circuit comprising: a switchingdevice controlling power supply to the stator winding; a switchingdevice driver controlling the operation of the switching device; avoltage regulator circuit connected to the switching device driver; amicro-controller connected to the switching device driver; a temperaturesensing device adapted to sense the temperature of the voltage regulatorcircuit; and a thermal shutdown device adapted to shutdown the voltageregulator circuit in response to the temperature of the voltageregulator being above a threshold level while retaining power to themicroprocessor preventing a restart of the motor absent a recycling ofpower to the motor.
 15. A control circuit of claim 14, wherein thetemperature sensing device is attached to the bottom of the controlcircuit.
 16. A control circuit of claim 14, further comprising: arectifier circuit adapted to convert an AC input power into unregulatedDC output power; and a voltage dropping circuit adapted to receive theunregulated output power from the rectifier circuit and to provide anoutput power used by the voltage regulator circuit.
 17. A controlcircuit of claim 14, wherein the micro-controller is further adapted togenerate a switching device control signal that is input to theswitching device driver.
 18. A control circuit of claim 14, wherein themicro-controller is further adapted to detect recycling of the motor, towait a first period of time after detection of the recycling of themotor, and to generate the switching device control signal at the end ofthe first period.
 19. A control circuit of claim 14, wherein the thermalshutdown device is adapted to shutdown the voltage regulator circuit inresponse to the temperature of the voltage regulator being higher than athreshold level of approximately one hundred and fifty Celsius.
 20. Acontrol circuit of claim 14, wherein the switching device includes aplurality of insulated gate bipolar transistors.
 21. A method of claim14, wherein a switch is turned to the off position and then back onagain to recycle power to the motor.
 22. A method of claim 14, wherein asubstrate of the voltage regulator is thermally coupled to the controlcircuit.